NBA Bans O.J. Mayo For Violating Anti-Drug Program

Free agent and former Milwaukee Bucks guard O.J. Mayo, 28, was banned from the NBA for violating the league’s anti-drug program. Mayo can apply for reinstatement in two years.

Here is the full release:

The NBA announced today that free agent O.J. Mayo has been dismissed and disqualified from the league for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program.

Under the Anti-Drug Program, Mayo is eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years.

The NBA, NBA teams, and the Players Association are prohibited from publicly disclosing information regarding the testing or treatment of any NBA player under the Anti-Drug Program, other than to announce a player’s suspension or dismissal from the league.

In 2011, Mayo was suspended 10 games for testing positive for PEDs, a positive he blamed on a gas station energy drink. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement ( PDF), the NBA is not allowed to “publicly disclose the particular Prohibited Substance involved” in a disqualification if it involves a “Drug of Abuse or marijuana,” but must do so is a player is disqualified, “for conduct involving a SPED.” Considering the NBA didn’t name a SPED (Steroids, Performance–Enhancing Drugs), nor did Mayo receive a second suspension for SPEDs as the CBA mandates, he was presumably banned for a “Drug of Abuse.”

The NBA’s list of Drugs of Abuse include:

Amphetamine and its analogs (including, but not limited to, methamphetamine and MDMA)

Cocaine

LSD

Opiates (Heroin, Codeine, Morphine)

Phencyclidine (PCP)